Election Day

The election is a big deal here. It's not just the presidential election, but also some local ones including the mayor of V@llarta. They're not allowed to sell alcohol the day before the election (it was funny to be in a packed bar yesterday watching the World Cup with everyone drinking Cokes and lemonade). And election day is on a Sunday so most people aren't working and it's easier for them to get out and vote.

The office pictured above is 1 block from where I live. One day I was coming home and I saw about a half dozen of these guys, all fully armed and in their military gear, just standing on the street corner. Of course I had to walk up to them and ask them what was going on. They told me it was nothing, and then I asked, "Why the big guns?", and they tried to reassure me it was nothing and that I should feel safe. I told them that with big guns I actually feel less safe.

When I mentioned this to a journalist, he explained that because Mexico doesn't have a strong history of true democracy and because of the great potential for corruption, the military gets involved in the elections. This is supposed to decrease ballot fraud. Wow.

I'm still trying to fully understand the political system here as well as the parties and the candidates. Here's a "lite" synopsis: the 3 main parties are the PAN (National Action Party), the PRD (Democratic Revolution Party, and the PRI (Institutional Revolutionary Party). The PRI was in power for 71 years until the current (soon to be ex) president Vicente Fox was elected. Polls are showing the PAN candidate Felipe Calderon Hinojosa in a close race with PRD candidate Andres Lopez Obrador. Lopez was the mayor of Mexxico City until last year and is more left leaning. Calderon tried to smear him by associating him with Venezuelan President Chavez who is a bit of a radical. You might guess who I support.

After living here, I have an increased understanding of certain things. I still back immigration to the US (both legal and not) because I don't blame poor people for trying to find a better life and I absolutely oppose sending National Guardsmen to the border and building a fence. But at the same time, I think the big problem here is that the minimum wage is 48 pesos per day (that's about $4.50 USD) which is nowhere near what a person can live on. I see the gap between the rich and poor and it's deplorable. Especially in V@llarta, I see development that only benefits the rich instead of building industry and manufacturing that might actually help more people. My experience is that so many things need to be imported and the import tax must be extremely high because the prices for imported goods is out of control. I view this whole immigration debate as a typical tool to pit working class/poor people against each other and to deflect attention from self-interested governments who benefit the rich. Hmm, what else is new in the world?

Let's hope this election changes things a little bit.